Cleaning Up Dublin: Launching Our New Litter Prevention & Awareness Campaign

Last week, I was proud to launch Dublin City Council’s new Litter Prevention and Awareness Campaign—a major step forward in our ongoing work to clean up Dublin and make it the welcoming, vibrant city we all want it to be.

This campaign is the third and final piece of our Three Pillar Strategy to deliver a cleaner capital. Pillar 1 has been about strengthening operations. Pillar 2 has focused on enforcement and regulation. And now, with Pillar 3, we are putting a strong emphasis on prevention and awareness—helping to change behaviours and attitudes so that dropping litter or dumping rubbish becomes a thing of the past.

Over the past year, we have made some real progress:

• We’ve recruited 100 additional cleaning staff, bringing our frontline team to more than 550 across the city.
• We’ve expanded our bin network to more than 3,200 public bins, with many in the city centre being emptied up to four times a day.
• We’ve invested over €10 million in new cleaning vehicles, including electric side loaders and a new fleet of advanced street washers.
• We’ve extended our 24-hour cleaning service to cover a 4 km² area in the city centre, staffed by 200 people working around the clock.
• We’ve stepped up enforcement, with new wardens, CCTV in dumping hotspots, and stricter bye-law enforcement to make sure everyone plays by the rules.

The new campaign we launched last week is about complementing all of that hard work with a strong public message: cleaning up Dublin is everyone’s job. Through posters, social media, and partnerships with local businesses, we want to build a sense of civic pride and shared responsibility.

As I said at the launch:
“Cleaning up Dublin is not just the job of the Council—it’s a responsibility we all share. We are putting in the staff, the equipment, the enforcement, and now the awareness. Together, we can deliver a city that truly reflects the pride Dubliners have in it.”

And just as importantly:
“This campaign is about more than emptying bins and cleaning streets—it’s about building a culture where dropping litter or dumping rubbish is simply unacceptable. Dublin is a world-class city, and it deserves to look like one every single day.”

This is not about quick fixes. It’s about a long-term commitment to cleaner streets, stronger enforcement, and greater public pride. Dublin is our home. Let’s clean it up—together.